Today marks one whole month since Boris appeared on our TVs and put the UK into lockdown – Can’t quite believe it’s been that long already….though part of me also feels like it has been so so much longer! We certainly live in some crazy times! Hopefully we will get past the peak sooner rather than later and can start heading back so some semblance of normality soon!
Anyway; something fun for everyone to do with their newfound lockdown spare time; baking!
Is it just me or is absolutely everyone making banana bread at the moment?! I don’t know if it is that everyone panic bought bananas when Boris said “lockdown” and now they are all going off or if a small number of people started making banana bread and then people saw it and thought “ooh, I fancy some banana bread” and started a chain of banana bread cravings, but either way, I’m completely on board with it!
We don’t have a loaf tin (blaming it on lack of space in our current house – once lockdown is finished and they can get on with building our new house, I’ll buy one, but until then I’ve got my trusty cake tins) but this recipe can be used in both cake tins or a loaf tin – if you are using a loaf tin, turn the temperature down to 170’C and cook for about 15 minutes longer, until a skewer comes out clean, but otherwise the process is the same.
This recipe actually makes two of the cake in the picture, so you could make a banana cake sandwich with a good dollop of buttercream in the middle, but A) I wanted to give half to M’s parents who live up the road so we dropped it on their doorstep instead and B) we didn’t have enough butter for a good buttercream – but you could do that if you wanted a proper two layer-cake, and the recipe makes enough for two sandwich tins (but the photos obviously only show one half – if that makes sense!)
This recipe also uses plain flour rather than self-raising as I have found it slightly easier to find in the supermarket – still not easy, but easier!
Enjoy and stay safe!
Serves: If you made it into a proper sandwich cake it would probably make a good 10-12 good sized slices – though I overheard a phrase the other day which we are currently living by which is “Corona has no Calories” and therefore having this whole cake for one or two people would be equally acceptable!
What You Will Need:
- 5 Slightly over-ripe Bananas
- 125g Butter
- 170g Caster Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- Pinch of Salt
- 310g Plain Flour
- 145g Chocolate Chips
- Two Sandwich-style cake tins
- Mixing bowl
- Wooden Spoon
- Fork
How To Do It:
- Preheat Oven to 180’C.
- Mash the bananas with the back of the fork – they don’t need to be completely smooth, as few lumps never hurt anyone!
- Melt the butter in the microwave, gently, and add to the mashed banana.
- Add the Eggs, Flour, Vanilla, Sugar, Baking Powder & Salt and mix well.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix through.
- Grease the cake tins.
- Pour cake mix into tins, divided equally between the two.
- Put in the oven and bake for approx 30-35 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
- Serve individually, drizzled in white icing (icing sugar and water) or as a pair, sandwiched with buttercream – yum!
As always, if you do make any of my recipes, do let me know and tag me on instagram (@rosieladkin) or twitter (also @rosieladkin)!
Happy Baking!
P.s. photos taken by the wonderful M himself who is doing a Quarantine Photo Challenge and posting a photo every single day to his instagram – give him a follow if you are interested! He’s at @matt.griff90 🙂
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